Guide to Authors

Journal of the Nigerian Optometric Association accepts manuscripts of original articles, review articles, case reports, short communications, editorials, based on clinical and scientific related quality research in the broad fields of optometry, ophthalmology and vision health sciences.

Formatting

Manuscripts must be formatted according to the instructions below.

• The paper should include
• A cover letter accompanying the manuscript, indicating the significance of the study and also certifying that the article has not been previously published elsewhere. All Authors full names and signatures, email address and affiliations, including corresponding author’s telephone number will be required. The Journal will publish manuscripts written in English, using A4 paper size with 1.25 inches margin on all sides. Preferred font size is 12 using Times New Romans. For scientific notations, measurements and visual acuity, authors should use the metric system notation and standard abbreviations.

• Article Types

• Original Articles 

These include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. The text of original articles should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, Tables and Figure legends.

Main text, 6000- 8000 words max; Abstract, 250 words max; References, 40 max; Tables/Figures, 3-6 max. Abstracts for Original Articles must be structured using the headings: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusion. Keywords: Three to six keywords should be included

 Reviews 

It is expected that these articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.

The word count is variable, depending on content and type of submission (Max 4000 words; References, minimum 40; Tables/Figures, 3-6 max). The manuscript should have an unstructured abstract (maximum 250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. Authors submitting review article should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

The journal expects the contributors to give post-publication updates on the subject of review. The update should be brief, covering the advances in the field after the publication of the article and should be sent as a letter to editor, as and when major development occurs in the field.

Systematic reviews:  

Abstracts must be structured using the headings: Purpose, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion. Main text must be structured using the headings: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusion. The Methods section must clearly describe the search strategy (keywords, inclusion/exclusion criteria, search engines used, etc.)

• Brief Reports (Main text, 2000 words max; Abstract, 150 words max; References, 20 max, Tables/Figures, 2 max) Abstracts for Brief Reports must be structured using the headings: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusion. Main text must use the structural headings: Introduction Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. Brief Reports must provide conclusive findings: preliminary observations or incomplete findings cannot be considered for publication.

• Case Reports/ Case Series

New, interesting and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. These communications could be of up to 1200 words, 2000 words max (excluding abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Case Report, Discussion, Clinical significance/implications, References (up to 15 references), Tables and Legends in that order.

Abstract should be structured and divided into sections with the headings “Purpose, Case Report, and Conclusion” and it should be provided in maximum 150 words. Authored by not more than four authors.

Short communication Letters to the Editor 

These should be short and decisive observations. They should preferably be related to articles previously published in the Journal or views expressed in the journal. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. The letter could have up to 500 words, 1500 words Max and at least 5 references. It could be generally authored by not more than four authors.

Editorials/Opinions:

These should cover a single topic of contemporary issue and authors should be written invited only. In all cases, authors should ensure compliance with the highest standards of research ethics. A statement indicating such compliance should be included in the methodology section of each submission. It is the authors responsibility to ensure that ethical approval is obtained from relevant Institutional Review Boards and the Journal could request a copy of such IRB approval. Main text, 2000 words; No abstract; References, 15 max; Tables/Figures, 2 max)

Tables

1. Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material. Each table should be referenced in the text.
2. Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable.
3. Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.
4. Table number and Title should be place on top of the Table [Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents.]
5. Submit each table on a separate page
6. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.
7. Spell out all abbreviations that are used in each table in footnotes (for instance: IOP, intraocular pressure).
8. Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.
9. For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||,¶ , **, ††, ‡‡

Figures

1. Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.
2. Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column.
3. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.
4. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations not on the illustrations themselves.
5. When graphs, scatter-grams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.
6. The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas.
7. If photographs of individuals are used, their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.
8. If a figure has been published elsewhere, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for such figures.
9. Figure legends: Provide figure legends in maximum 600 characters. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one in the legend. Explain the internal scale (magnification) and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.
10. Final figures for print production: Send sharp, glossy, un-mounted, color photographic prints, with height of 4 inches and width of 6 inches at the time of submitting the revised manuscript. Print outs of digital photographs are not acceptable. If digital images are the only source of images, ensure that the image has minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1800 x 1600 pixels in TIFF format. Each figure should have a label pasted (avoid use of liquid gum for pasting) below, on its back indicating the number of the figure, the running title, top of the figure and the legends of the figure [Figure1.Age distribution of respondents] Do not write the contributor/s’ name/s.
11. The Journal reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size. 
12. Submit each figure on a separate page

References

The JNOA uses the Vancouver referencing style. Use consecutive numbers in superscript before punctuation mark. [eg. Studies ^1-3, have shown that…]  Reference listing should be done in order in which they appear in the text. In the reference list, please list all authors (for up to six authors) and the first six authors followed by et al (for articles with more than six authors).

Where available, URLs for the references should be provided directly within the MS-Word document. References in the References section must be prepared as follows:

1. More than six authors, cite 6 authors, et al.
2. Title style: sentence case; please use a capital letter only for the first word of the title;
3. Journal titles mentioned in the References list should be abbreviated according to the following websites:
   1. ISI Journal Abbreviations Index

(http://library.caltech.edu/reference/abbreviations);

1. 1. Biological Journals and Abbreviations (http://home.ncifcrf.gov/research/bja);
   2. Medline List of Journal Titles (ftp://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pubmed/J_Medline.txt);
2. Year of publication should be placed after the journal name;
3. Never put month and day in the last part of the references;
4. Cite only the volume (not the issue in brackets);
5. Pages have to be abbreviated, e.g., 265-9.

To ensure the correct citation format, please check your references in the PubMed database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed).

Examples:

Journal article

 Nwokedi O, Ekpenyong BN, Musa NR, Ovenseri-Ogbomo GO^.. Refractive Errors in Children with Down syndrome in Lagos State, Nigeria. Journal of the Nigerian Optometric Association. 2018;20:15-22

Proceedings

Ekpenyong BN. Understanding gender and gender equality in the workplace: The African experience. U6+ consortium of African universities proceedings, 2019 Sept, University of Calabar, Nigeria. 2019 pp 189 -194.

Article with organization as author

American Optometric Association Consensus Panel On Care of the Patient With Amblyopia. Optometric Clinical Practice Guideline: Care of the Patient with Amblyopia. Reference Guide for Clinicians. 2004;1: 1 -31

Books

Kanski JJ. Clinical ophthalmology. 3^rd ed. Butterworth-Heinemann Jordan hill Oxford UK; 1994.

Authorship

Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors. The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship according to the ICMJE criteria (http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html). This is all those who:

1. Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data.

2. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content.

3. Approved the version to be published.

4. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. When a large, multicenter group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship. The role of each author should be clearly specified when submitting the manuscript.

 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as specified above should be listed in the Acknowledgement section of the manuscript.

Journal Ethics

The journal is committed to meeting and upholding standards of ethical behaviour at all stages of the publication process. We follow closely the industry associations, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) , Directory of open Access Journals (DOAJ), 

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE.org)  and World Association of Medical Editors ( WAME), that set standards and provide guidelines for best practices in order to meet these requirements.

Declaration of Conflict of Interest

It is the policy of JNOA to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles. Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations (ICMJE.org)     Download the ICMJE COI form.

Ethical considerations

An Ethical Considerations sub-section is REQUIRED in the Methods section for all studies involving human or animal subjects. Authors must include the following:

1) Name of Institutional Review Board or ethics committee or institution that reviewed the study,
2) Study ethics approval number,
3) Consent letter (oral, written) in which consent was obtained from participants, and
4) Approaches used to protect data and confidentiality of participants.

For studies that involve human or animal subjects, authors must upload a copy of the approval letter, certificate or waiver from their IRB or ethics committee as a supplementary file.

Manuscript will be carefully studied for evidence of plagiarism, duplication and data manipulation; in particular, images must be carefully examined for any indication of intentional improper modification. Any suspected misconduct ends up with a rejection.

Peer-review policy

All manuscripts submitted to our journal are critically assessed by internal and external experts in accordance with the principles of peer review, which is fundamental to the scientific publication process and the dissemination of sound science. Each paper is first assigned by the Editors to an appropriate member of the Editorial team who has knowledge of the field discussed in the manuscript. The first step of manuscript selection takes place entirely in-house to establish the article appropriateness for our journal’s readership;

If a manuscript does not receive a sufficiently high priority score to warrant publication, the editors will proceed to a quick rejection. The remaining articles are reviewed by at least two different external referees (second step or classical peer review). 

Registration of Clinical Trials

(http://www.icmje.org/#clin_trials)
The ICMJE believes that it is important to foster a comprehensive, publicly available database of clinical trials. The ICMJE defines a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or concurrent comparison or control groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. JNOA requires, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration in a public trials’ registry. The journal considers a trial for publication only if it has been registered before the enrollment of the first patient. The journal does not advocate one particular registry but requires authors to register their trial in a registry that meets several criteria. The registry must be accessible to the public at no charge. It must be open to all prospective registrants and managed by a non-profit organization. There must be a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data, and the registry should be electronically searchable. An acceptable registry must include a minimum of data elements (http://www.icmje.org/#clin_trials).

Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research
For experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013 (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects).

If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the World Medical Association (2016 revision, https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-statement-on-animal-use-in-biomedical-research) and from the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare (http://www.veteditors.org/consensus-author-guidelines-on-animal-ethics-and-welfare-for-editors). When reporting experiments on ecosystems involving non-native species, Authors are bound to ensure compliance with the institutional and national guide for the preservation of native biodiversity.

Copyright Notice

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

The author(s) retain their copyright, which means that authors may use the article for teaching and other non-commercial research purposes without approval from the publisher, provided the journal is acknowledged as the original source.

 Disclaimer

Concerted efforts are always made by the Publisher and the Editorial Board to see that no inaccurate or misleading information, opinion or assertion appears in this journal. However, information and opinions appearing in the articles of this journal are the sole responsibility of the author(s) concerned. The Publisher, Editorial Board, their agents or employees, accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the consequences of any inaccurate information.

Publication Charge

Currently, manuscripts accepted for publication are published without any article processing charges or article submission fees.

Journal sponsorship – The Journal of Nigerian Optometric Association receives funding and support from the Nigerian Optometric Association, a registered non-profit organisation. 

Publisher: Nigerian Optometric Association. 
C/o: Editorial/Publishing Committee, Suite 219 Jinifa Plaza, Plot 1014 Samual Ademulegun Adesuji Street, Central Business District- Abuja, Nigeria.

Indexed in African journals online. https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jnoa,Google scholar, Asian Library.